The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), Office of Career and Technical Education, is pleased to sponsor another series of teacher-training academies to prepare career and technical education teachers for selected industry certification examinations. Testing options for the specific industry certification will be available as a part of each academy.

These industry certifications have been approved by the Board of Education for the student-selected verified credit option. The career and technical education teacher and/or the career and technical education program must be certified by the organization issuing the industry certification or license before their students can be eligible for the student-selected verified credit.

Training will be offered as self-study modules using online courseware. These "virtual academies” offer any time/any day access and may be an attractive training option for teachers desiring to do self-study using the Internet. Currently, the virtual academies feature training for Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC3 GS), Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS 2007 or MOS 2010), and the Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) program.

Industry certification training academies for February-May 2012 are listed on the attached registration form. Registration information should be returned no later than March 1, 2012. Enrollment confirmation and information about academy details will be sent directly to participants.

All training academies will be tuition free to career and technical education teachers who include preparation for the specific industry certification in their course or course sequence, and who use the industry certification as an option for their students to earn student-selected verified credit.

Teachers enrolling in virtual online academies must participate in preparation and examination testing between the dates indicated for the specific academy session.

Attachment A contains the registration form. For additional information about industry certification training academies, contact the coordinator listed on the registration form for specific training academies, or a career and technical education program specialist. For information about a specific industry certification, contact Gordon Creasy, specialist for industry certification, Office of Career and Technical Education, by e-mail at cte@doe.virginia.gov or by telephone at (804) 225-3119.